One Synth Challenge #187: ExtraBold by Nakst (Jasinski Wins!)

[seap]

Hold My Bear
Track updated with new mix with better panning and EQ.
String track split for easier automation. Now 16 tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/seap681/hold-my-bear-seap-osc187

[Taron]

Boldilocks
*** NOT SUBMISSION ***
My actual submission is in this post:
viewtopic.php?p=8972118#p8972118

But here's still my old, first track...
https://soundcloud.com/taronium/boldilocksflac

DAW: MuLab (www.mutools.com)
Instances: 28
FX: Auburn Sounds Panagement 2 (free), TD-Nova, OTT, LoudMax, Dimension Expander

I sure feel rusty again, but finally I've managed to make a track again. ExtraBold is quite a nice little gem, gets things done quickly and runs beautifully smooth over here. Took me a little hint from TSoM that there's a Wavetable mode for the oscillators, HAHA, right after I had my first draft of the track, but that really changed everything. Above all, I wished the volumes of each oscillator could've been modulated, but well... still enjoyed it a lot.

Oh, I also did not use any reverb or delay plugin, but tried doing all that stuff with ExtraBold itself. Kind of entertaining and most definitely extra bold!

Also, for the first time in decades, really, I've done the whole thing with speakers only, except that I put headphones on once near the end, discovering a few things I couldn't hear before, but it made it so much fun to mix and choose pannings. Really a nice experience!

[empphryio]

[
Might even depend on what type of music you make. I usually cram to many things into tracks and therefore it's extremely important to separate them and avoid masking on a track level already. You can do the same with a reduce composition There's actually no silver bullet...

Yes. Your tracks are really crammed full, which is cool, but makes it harder. They sound good.

[robelanator]

This is my first time sound designing drums, so that was probably the hardest part. I have always just used samples.

I feel this. I've spent *hours* this weekend trying to dial in a passable cymbal crash and am about ready to give up and move on. Through trial and error (mostly error) I've gotten close with multiple detuned square waves + ring mod + noise + comb filter, but the pitch and decay still aren't quite right. I'm guessing to do this properly would require MSEGs and multiple filters? If anyone has advice, I'd appreciate it.

On the other hand, I was able to create a kick, snare, closed hat, and ride fairly quickly this time around after putting in a lot of time with Geonkick during last month's OSC. Not sure I'm doing it the optimal way, but I'm happy with the result.

Your updated track sounds good, by the way, seap. Nice work.

[Taron]

Once you find wavetables and wave 1 (sine), you can very easily make most of the drums and percussion. For hihats and cymbals FM is probably the best way to go. There are some wild waves in the last few as well as the "noise" option on LFO that can help. The noise itself is really too crude and can only be modelled with the filters, which filter everything, sooo...not so great. But somewhere between wavetables, FM and LFO's it all should be decently possible.
I haven't even really tried doing cymbals, though, except one sort of "China" like crash, but ever so "hidden" in reverb (its own reverb, though).

Maybe I'll play around and share what I figure out...

[robelanator]

I didn't even know there was a wavetable oscillator option until I saw your previous post! Thanks for mentioning that. I'll play around with that tonight and hopefully make some progress.

[Taron]

Isn't it well hidden?! ...you're very welcome!

[empphryio]

I think this is a very good synth for drums thanks to the FM and ring mod. Definitely use those. Also using multiple instances is really helpful. My snare is 3 instances this month. Sometimes people use a good more instances than that.

[seap]

But somewhere between wavetables, FM and LFO's it all should be decently possible.
I haven't even really tried doing cymbals, though, except one sort of "China" like crash, but ever so "hidden" in reverb (its own reverb, though).

Your drums are unbelievable to a synth drum noob like me. I had to do an EDM track with riser drops, one note riffs and quarter note kicks and hats and to make any good use of the boomy drum sounds I could come up with.

[Taron]

But somewhere between wavetables, FM and LFO's it all should be decently possible.
I haven't even really tried doing cymbals, though, except one sort of "China" like crash, but ever so "hidden" in reverb (its own reverb, though).

Your drums are unbelievable to a synth drum noob like me. I had to do an EDM track with riser drops, one note riffs and quarter note kicks and hats and to make any good use of the boomy drum sounds I could come up with.

Awww, THANK YOU!
But then I've been doing this with all sorts of synths for decades, so... not like it was necessary to do it for that long, but well, yeah... won't take me too long to find some okay ways to do drums with almost anything it seems.

Here's a little test I've done for you guys, experimenting with sort of ride and ride bell like sounds...
https://soundcloud.com/taronium/drumdem ... al_sharing

I'm sure one can do a well better job with some more exploration, but hey... not so bad. If you want to I can post the presets for you, too.

[robelanator]

Thanks, Teron. I was able to get similar results to your ride example, but played closer to the bell than the edge to get a little "ting" sound at the start. If you wouldn't mind sharing the presets, though, I'd be interested in seeing the method you used. Mine results in some extra top and bottom end timbres that I needed to rely on the tone- effects in ExtraBold to cut down on.

[Taron]

Sorry, I got held up for a while there... here's a bank of those drum quickies.

demoDrums.synthbank.zip

I've been using those Tone Hi+ and/or Tone Lo- adjustments, too.
Those demo drums I just made real quick without checking levels, so...should be okay or consistent enough, but I did use some Panagement 2 placements for the little demo track up there.
Also you have to figure out the notes to use for your arrangement, whereby all cymbals and hihat are just up on octave from kick and snare.
Well, I hope it helps as a decent inspiration.

[whassup]

Wow Taron! Really cool drum sounds and thanx a lot for sharing them! I never got into synthesizing drums so I am very grateful to get some decent drums for this synth.

[Taron]

You're very welcome, whassup!
This synth might be a pretty good one to study the basics of making synth drums. If you wanted to, I could give a small explanation so you'll have less trouble making them in the future. The tips would work for virtually any synth, I imagine. At least the gist of it.

[IV!]

Boldilocks

https://soundcloud.com/taronium/boldilocksflac

DAW: MuLab (www.mutools.com)
Instances: 28
FX: Auburn Sounds Panagement 2 (free), TD-Nova, OTT, LoudMax, Dimension Expander

I sure feel rusty again, but finally I've managed to make a track again. ExtraBold is quite a nice little gem, gets things done quickly and runs beautifully smooth over here. Took me a little hint from TSoM that there's a Wavetable mode for the oscillators, HAHA, right after I had my first draft of the track, but that really changed everything. Above all, I wished the volumes of each oscillator could've been modulated, but well... still enjoyed it a lot.

Oh, I also did not use any reverb or delay plugin, but tried doing all that stuff with ExtraBold itself. Kind of entertaining and most definitely extra bold!

Also, for the first time in decades, really, I've done the whole thing with speakers only, except that I put headphones on once near the end, discovering a few things I couldn't hear before, but it made it so much fun to mix and choose pannings. Really a nice experience!

Rusty? At least not for me! Every time you burst in with music, fresh and light as the wind in the field! I would like this to happen more often.

And thanks for the great percussion examples, it's kind of a simple synthesizer, but all the time someone finds something else)